HTML BOX SCOREKUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Bloomsburg University women's basketball team built a big lead after three quarters, but had to hang on in the fourth to knock off the Golden Bears of Kutztown University, 76-70, at Keystone Arena. The Huskies improved to 9-5 overall and 6-4 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division. Kutztown dropped to 6-8 overall and 4-7 in league play.
The Huskies have now won 14 straight meetings against the Golden Bears and improved to 67-23 lifetime against their PSAC East rival. Bloomsburg has not lost to Kutztown since March 2, 2010.
Bloomsburg led 63-36 after three quarters and seemingly had things well in hand. However, the Golden Bears outscored the Huskies, 34-13, in the fourth quarter and got the Bloomsburg advantage down to as few as four points before junior
Morgan Klunk (Felton/York Catholic) hit a pair of free throws in the closing seconds for the final margin.
Junior
Mia Hopkins (Pittston/Pittston Area) posted her first double-double since recording 17 points and 16 rebounds against Mercyhurst in a 66-61 double overtime victory over the Lakers on December 4. She finished the afternoon with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Twenty of her points and seven of her rebounds came during a first half that saw Bloomsburg open up a 43-26 lead at the break.
Junior
Alex Ross (Lancaster/Manheim Township) had the best scoring output of her collegiate career, finishing with a career-high 22 points. She had ten in the first half and a dozen more in the second to break her previous high of 18 she established against the University of the Sciences on November 29. She ended up making nine of her thirteen field goal attempts while also adding six rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and two steals.
Bloomsburg led by ten after the first quarter, 23-13, as Hopkins and freshman
Julia Gantz (Havertown/Archbishop John Carroll) sparked the Huskies' fast start with seven points apiece in the opening ten minutes.
The lead ballooned to 43-26 at halftime as the Huskies outscored the Golden Bears, 20-13, in the second quarter. Bloomsburg extended the lead with another lopsided scoring margin, 20-10, in the third quarter to take a 63-36 advantage after three.
Bloomsburg needed every point as the lead began to slip away in the fourth. The teams exchanged baskets in the opening thirty seconds before Kutztown went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 65-46 with 7:25 left. Senior
Adreana Sadowski (Fleetwood/Brandywine Heights) converted a layup to stop the bleeding, but Kutztown went on another 12-0 run immediately afterwards to trim the advantage to nine, 67-58, with 3:43 remaining.
Sadowski knocked down back-to-back baskets, sandwiched around a three-pointer from Kutztown's Natalya Lee, to keep the Husky lead at ten, 71-61, with 2:40 left. Kutztown went on another 6-0 run and, all of a sudden, Bloomsburg's 27-point lead was down to four with 1:07 showing on the clock. A basket by Ross extended the lead to six, but Kutztown's Kelsey Watson hit a pair of free throws to slice the advantage to four. Klunk hit two free throws with 21 seconds left and the Huskies' defense forced an errant three-point attempt and a turnover to close out the contest.
After Hopkins and Ross, Klunk finished with 11 points but converted only 4-of-12 at the free throw line. She entered the contest as an 85.9% shooter from the foul line in her career (158-of-184). Sadowski also finished with double figures, posting ten points, to move to within 39 points of reaching 1,000 for her career.
Lee led Kutztown with 18 points while Watson added 17 points and 13 rebounds in the loss.
Bloomsburg will look to stay in the win column on Wednesday, January 13, when the Huskies travel to Millersville University. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
